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Welcome to The Student Funnel, a monthly higher ed sector newsletter from Hybrid, a leader in student marketing and recruitment strategies. We highlight news, trends, and behaviours that impact the sector and share insights on how to better connect with your audiences.
We can’t cover January’s impact on higher education without commenting on President Trump’s first few days in office. Here’s a summary of the key stories:
The Department of Education dismantles all diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives
Aligning with President Donald Trump’s executive orders to remove DEI from the federal government, the Department of Education has made several moves to remove DEI initiatives. These include:
1) The deletion or removal of hundreds of documents, including guidance, reports, and training materials that promoted DEI in education.
2) Employees leading DEI initiatives have been placed on paid leave.
3) The Department of Education has dissolved its Diversity & Inclusion Council.
4) DEI-related training and service contracts, totalling $2.6 million, have been cancelled.
5) All federal agencies have been told to eliminate DEI programmes, even if they operate under different names.
The freeze of Federal funding, followed swiftly by its reversal
Over a matter of days, there has been some back and forth with the freeze of federal funding. Here is a brief timeline of what’s happened so far:
On January 27th, The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued a directive freezing federal financial assistance programmes. The goal being to cut funding for programmes related to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), gender policies, and other initiatives deemed inconsistent with the administration’s agenda.
The following day, a U.S. District Court judge granted a temporary stay until February 3, just minutes before the funding freeze was set to take effect. This halted its immediate impact.
On January 29th, the OMB rescinded the funding freeze. However, it outlined that agencies must still review federal spending to ensure alignment with Trump’s executive orders. The U.S. Department of Education confirmed that the funding freeze does not apply to Title I (low-income school funding), Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) grants, Pell Grants, federal student loans (Title IV of the Higher Education Act), or Head Start (early childhood education program).
Meta has officially launched ad testing on Threads, despite previously suggesting it would wait until the app hit one billion users. So far, the rollout is limited to selected users and brands in the US and Japan.
Those with access to the initial testing can now extend their existing Facebook and Instagram campaigns to Threads by simply checking a box in Ads Manager. So, there is no need for new creative assets. It's also worth noting that ads will be powered by Meta’s existing ad systems, meaning targeting and optimisation is similar to its other platforms.
Threads has become an increasingly valuable platform and has now reached 300 million monthly active users. So it comes as no surprise that ads have been introduced, but it has come a little earlier than expected.
With a reported 26% of marketers planning to reduce ad spend on X this year, Threads could be a good alternative for many advertisers. For the rest of the globe, Meta plans a broader rollout shortly. So keep an eye out!
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Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg also announced this month that the company is eliminating its fact-checking program and adopting an X-style "Community Notes" system for moderating content. Additionally, Meta will reintroduce more political content to its platforms, reversing previous efforts to limit its reach.
The goal, according to Meta, is to reduce censorship mistakes and simplify content policies. Zuckerberg also said it's time to "restore free expression" and move away from strict content moderation.
Despite this move being framed as a response to mistakes in moderation, the timing suggests that Meta is aligning itself with the new political landscape in the US, with this announcement coming just days before Trump’s inauguration.
For the first time since the pandemic, college enrolment in the US has increased, surpassing pre-COVID levels. According to new data from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, total enrolment rose 4.5% (817,000 students) in Fall 2024, marking a positive shift after years of decline.
Key enrolment trends included:
First-year college enrolment rose 5.5%, with the research centre correcting a previous data error which had mistakenly reported a freshman enrolment decline.
Community college freshman enrolment surged 7.1%, helping reverse steep pandemic-era declines. Overall, community colleges saw a 5.9% (325,000 students) increase in enrolment.
Many are relieved by the rebound, especially amid concerns about the looming “demographic cliff”, fears fuelled by the FAFSA rollout issues and growing scepticism about the value of a college degree.
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In case you’ve been living under a rock, the TikTok ban saga continued into January with the ban date initially set for January 19th. Here’s a timeline of how the key events unfolded:
January 17, 2025
The U.S. Supreme Court rules in favor of the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act (PAFACA), validating concerns over TikTok’s data collection and ties to China.
The decision requires ByteDance to divest TikTok’s U.S. operations or face a nationwide ban.
TikTok challenges the ruling, arguing it violates First Amendment free speech protections, but the court rejects this claim.
January 19, 2025
At midnight on January 19, TikTok users are greeted with a shutdown message, confirming the ban has taken effect.
The app is removed from Google Play and the Apple App Store, along with other ByteDance-owned apps like Lemon8 and CapCut.
Just 12 hours after TikTok went offline, President Donald Trump issued an executive order delaying the ban for 75 days.
TikTok immediately comes back online, with a message thanking Trump for his efforts.
The delay gives ByteDance more time to find a buyer and avoids immediate penalties for business partners.
What’s next?
While the ban is paused, ByteDance still faces an April 5 deadline to sell its U.S. assets. Several potential buyers have come forward, including Elon Musk, MrBeast, and AI search engine Perplexity AI. Although, the Chinese government must approve any sale which could further complicate negotiations. It’s predicted that Congress may need to extend the deadline or repeal the law entirely to prevent a permanent ban.